Newbie trying to find alternative ways to get involved with beekeeping

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Re: Newbie trying to find alternative ways to get involved with beekeeping

you can learn all you need thru the internet you tube videos also you can find building plans also for bee hive boxes.also you can put free adds for swarms. that's a good way too get bees as well.one sheet of plywood 3/4" thick can build two double deep boxes that's the way i do mine.but i buy the frames from mann lake.the bees don't mind bad construction they'll fill the holes they don't need.

Re: Newbie trying to find alternative ways to get involved with beekeeping

First I must say I thoughly enjoyed reading this thread. Sounds a lot like my start in beekeeping...

My first 2 hives got vandalized, not a usefull peice of wood left, and left me with very little money and ambition to restart. I had decided to get try again the next year. Started building hive boxes from plywood and got some hand-me-down woodenware from a oldtimer. One day I took the tarp off to work on the boxes and discovered bee's decided it was a good home.
I was happy and excited not to have to wait till next spring. However, this also left me very short on equipment and gear since i had returned the stuff i was loaned to start out. Anyway here are some of the things I improvised to get along:

Veil #1: Garden hat with cheese cloth attached and tucked into shirt collar. Used for 6 weeks.
Veil #2: Purchased plastic hat and veil from mannlake ($30) Still in use, But looking to buy a full suit this year.

Smoker 1: Syrup spray bottle. Works for some not for others. Still use when adding supers or replacing baggie feeders.
Smoker 2: Coffee can smoker. Just cut a hole in the lid and side of can. Cover lid hole and push to puff smoke. Not great or very durrable but cheap and easy to replace.

Hive Tool: mini crow bar from walmart ($2)

Hive Bodies/Supers: Modified plywood Nuc plans to full size hives. One sheet of plywood can make most everything needed for an entire hive.

Frames: Only thing I really buy. I buy from westrenbee $0.45 a frame is cheapest I found and very high quality. Have to pay for shipping though.

Bee's: Swarms, obviously. I called several exterminating companies and talked with the people that accually go out on calls. Several where more then happy to give me the swarms they caught just so they didn't have to kill them.

Finding a bee yard was difficult for me as well. I talked to every one i could posible think of to find a yard. The home I found was the local small airport. They where having problems with break-ins, as a joke I told them bee hives would help scare would be crooks off, it worked.

Re: Newbie trying to find alternative ways to get involved with beekeeping

Adds on Craig's list will get you bee jobs
The thing is...... can you do them?
I would also try real hard to get your bees closer
You'll want to go in them a lot and two hrs is a long haul
Try Craig's for bee yard
Call your local county extension
Any collages close by they may have land or know of?
Read. Read and read

Before you do all that reading
Read this is some of the best free reading around
And if you have ??? He is here on BS you can ask him

Re: Newbie trying to find alternative ways to get involved with beekeeping

There are lots of great suggestions in this thread re: getting started in beekeeping inexpensively. I like the idea of helping out older beekeepers who have the knowledge but not the strength to carry on beekeeping. As you are making arrangements for this sort of thing be explicit about your availability. So much of beekeeping is spur of the moment, the weather is good now and there is something to do. Availability that depends on three or four days notice may not work out terribly well. (I have had people offer to help me but coordinating times hasn't worked out - now I no longer even try)

When I started out I did so with a friend - we each had a hive kept on land owned by a 3rd person. It helped reduce expenses as we had shared some equipment and helped us by having exposure to more hives.

A word of caution about BeeSource and other public forums - many of the posters know beekeeping well in their own area - but can expect their knowledge and ways of doing things to work everywhere. Unfortunately that just isn't so. An example would be screened bottom boards. For some beekeepers they are an integral part of their operation and they can't imagine beekeeping without them. Others (like myself) haven't experienced success with them. As you read stuff in forums be aware where people are posting from. Beekeeping in Alabama is different from beekeeping in Maine. I try in my own posts to be very cognizant of regional differences. Be aware too of inexperienced folk with lots of book learning and/or folks with ideological fixations on how beekeeping ought to work.

Most importantly find a way to overcome the financial obstacles and get started!!

Re: Newbie trying to find alternative ways to get involved with beekeeping

Originally Posted by Acebird

How did you convince them that the bees would only bother the potential criminals?

The area they where cutting through the fence was on the other side of the flight line away from hangers etc. I'll I really had to explain was that I didn't keep AHB and ensure them if the hives became an issue I would move them off the property. When I told them I was moving out of state next month one of the employee's offered to buy my hives so they could stay there and have been showing him how to care for the hives. The airport bought his gear for him... so jealous :P

Re: Newbie trying to find alternative ways to get involved with beekeeping

Wonderful suggestions!

I support the advice to try Craigslist. I rewrote my original ad based on input from Beesource and ended up getting more responses than I could handle. Also, don't forget to ask your local club - I ended up finding a nice yard through the efforts of another member.

And plywood boxes...I still have some left from building the DCoates nucs. If painted plywood bodies last at least one season we'd be satisfied.

Re: Newbie trying to find alternative ways to get involved with beekeeping

I initially made this veil with the suggested tulle (sourced from Walmart). Unfortunately, I can be rough on my things and tore it a few weeks ago. So this past weekend, I made a second veil by substituting fiberglass screen (Lowes). A roll of screen fabric ran around $7 and it was sturdy enough that I was able to omit the bias tape ($1.50 a pack @ Walmart). It was also easier to work with on my machine than the tulle. I was quite pleased with the sturdiness and appearance of the final product compared to the tulle version. Lastly, it also survived first contact with the bees in perfect condition.

The screen veil cost roughly $1 more per unit than the tulle. IMO, an extra dollar or two for materials is well worth the upgrade.